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Using adsorption kinetics to assemble vertically aligned nanorods at liquid interfaces for metamaterial applications

Morgan, S. O.; Muravitskaya, A.; Lowe, C.; Adawi, A. M.; Bouillard, J. G.; Horozov, T. S.; Stasiuk, G. J.; Buzza, D. M.A.

Authors

S. O. Morgan

A. Muravitskaya

C. Lowe

G. J. Stasiuk



Abstract

Vertically aligned monolayers of metallic nanorods have a wide range of applications as metamaterials or in surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. However the fabrication of such structures using current top-down methods or through assembly on solid substrates is either difficult to scale up or have limited possibilities for further modification after assembly. The aim of this paper is to use the adsorption kinetics of cylindrical nanorods at a liquid interface as a novel route for assembling vertically aligned nanorod arrays that overcomes these problems. Specifically, we model the adsorption kinetics of the particle using Langevin dynamics coupled to a finite element model, accurately capturing the deformation of the liquid meniscus and particle friction coefficients during adsorption. We find that the final orientation of the cylindrical nanorod is determined by their initial attack angle when they contact the liquid interface, and that the range of attack angles leading to the end-on state is maximised when nanorods approach the liquid interface from the bulk phase that is more energetically favorable. In the absence of an external field, only a fraction of adsorbing nanorods end up in the end-on state (≲40% even for nanorods approaching from the energetically favourable phase). However, by pre-aligning the metallic nanorods with experimentally achievable electric fields, this fraction can be effectively increased to 100%. Using nanophotonic calculations, we also demonstrate that the resultant vertically aligned structures can be used as epsilon-near-zero and hyperbolic metamaterials. Our kinetic assembly method is applicable to nanorods with a range of diameters, aspect ratios and materials and therefore represents a versatile, low-cost and powerful platform for fabricating vertically aligned nanorods for metamaterial applications.

Citation

Morgan, S. O., Muravitskaya, A., Lowe, C., Adawi, A. M., Bouillard, J. G., Horozov, T. S., …Buzza, D. M. (2022). Using adsorption kinetics to assemble vertically aligned nanorods at liquid interfaces for metamaterial applications. Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP, 24, 11000-11013. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cp05484h

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 9, 2022
Online Publication Date Apr 25, 2022
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Apr 26, 2022
Publicly Available Date Apr 27, 2022
Journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Print ISSN 1463-9076
Electronic ISSN 1463-9084
Publisher Royal Society of Chemistry
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 24
Pages 11000-11013
DOI https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cp05484h
Keywords Physical and Theoretical Chemistry; General Physics and Astronomy
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3984328

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